During an interview with Fox News just hours after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida that left 17 people dead, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Wednesday warned his colleagues to not “jump to conclusions” on gun control policy before the facts of the attack are known.

He said it was not the appropriate time to start talking about policy surrounding the shooting, likely referencing statements from his Democratic colleague Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who said on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon the attack was “a consequence of our inaction.”

“People don’t know how this happened, who this person is, what motivated them, how did they get ahold of the weapon to carry out this attack,” Rubio said. “I think it’s important to know all of that before you jump to conclusions that there’s a law we could have passed that could have prevented it and there may be, but shouldn’t we at least know the facts?”

“We can always have that debate,” he continued. “But if you’re going to have the debate about this particular incident, you should at least know the facts before you run out and prescribe some law you claim could have prevented it.”

The shooting in Rubio’s home state at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Wednesday was the deadliest school shooting since the attack at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut five years ago.

President Donald Trump, who is set to speak on the shooting at 11 a.m. EST Thursday, tweeted Thursday morning, suggesting there were “many signs” that the alleged shooter was “mentally disturbed” and said people already “knew he was a big problem.”

“Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!” he said.

Nicole Lafond (@Nicole_Lafond)
is a newswriter for TPM based in New York. She has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and previously worked as an education reporter at The News-Gazette in Champaign, Illinois.